By Bruce Robertson, Former director of education and education policy adviser

PREDICTABLY there have been mixed reactions to the recent outcomes of the Governance Review of Scottish Education, and the unfair political football that surrounds this centuries-old rock of Scottish society continues. Change was always going to be inevitable no matter how well or otherwise the system is performing; our small nation has a parliament and a government which seek more control of the direction of education, the £4 billion-plus spent on it, and its associated policies; local government has the ability to make local decisions on the use of national resources, leaving successive Education Ministers oft frustrated. Any objective look at our current system with 32 councils acting as 32 education authorities with huge variations of size, circumstance and priority could have led to a conclusion that fairly fundamental change was required. What is proposed therefore could be seen as a relatively minor tinkering of roles or a fudge in some eyes, given the options available. Or, has some of the recent experience in another developed nation, Wales, in trying to improve a system that was certainly in perennial decline, been heeded?

The 22 local authorities in Wales still have control of the basic building blocks of education, not dissimilar to those mooted by John Swinney for our 32 councils, but in 2013 school improvement functions were removed and placed in four regional consortia groups which have between 4-6 local authorities grouped together in formal, statutory arrangements. Similarly, like their near neighbours in England, headteachers and governors in the Principality have far greater autonomy than their Celtic cousins in Scotland. While I recognise the motives of Scottish Government in their recent announcement, I wonder if these proposals will bring the success that Scottish ministers are looking for. After a pretty inauspicious start, the jury is still out in Wales on the impact of the consortia system, with some of a view that only more radical restructuring will bring embedded change. System change alone will not tackle the impacts of poverty and inequality on children’s educational prospects, the main challenge for us in Scotland. That is in part recognised in some of the package of measures being proposed, with the creation of a new “middle tier”’ ( as advocated in the 2015 OECD Report ) in Scottish education. Perhaps the biggest surprise and risk in the proposals pertains to Education Scotland; nothing short of very radical change in this organisation will be required, and we must ensure that the very best individuals involved in improvement in education lead, and are part of, the regional partnerships being mooted in Scotland. The Welsh experience suggests that we should not expect overnight change and that clarity and innovation is required in terms of their governance, functions and leadership. Scotland therefore must immediately prepare for the proposed regional partnerships, learn from the Welsh experience but also avoid the re-creation of former education fiefdoms such as Strathclyde and Lothian.

The lack of detail missing from Mr Swinney’s proposals should be seen as an opportunity to influence, grab that space, populate the detail, and provide solutions that suit Scotland as opposed to importing ideas from other nations. In this there is a key role for the Association of Directors of Education in advising their national and local government colleagues in a manner that places the needs of children and young people first.

Time will tell whether the proposals will have been an old-fashioned Scottish fudge or a model for real improvement; Scotland deserves better than the former but only strong, inclusive and visionary leadership will create the latter.